GUJARAT 3

EXPRESS

JANUARY 25 l 2015

Heads of 4 villages write

open letter to PM Modi,
Obama for debate
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD I JANUARY 24

ARPANCHES of Mithi
Virdi and three other villages - Jaspara, Mandva
and Khadarpar - in Bhavnagar
have written an open letter to
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and US president
Barack Obama, demanding a
public debate on the proposed
6,000-MW nuclear power
plant at Mithi Virdi village.
Sarpanches from the four village - which would be the
most affected after the nuclear plant is set up - have rejected the environment impact assessment (EIA) report
for the proposed nuclear
power plant prepared by the
Engineers India Limited (EIL).
The village heads say in
the letter that EIL lacks necessary accreditation to conduct
EIA. They say that no agency
in India is, in fact, accredited
to assess nuclear power projects.

MITHI VIRDI
NUKE POWER PROJECT
The letter says that over
two lakh people from about
152 villages in the vicinity of
the proposed project would be
adversely affected if the project
is allowed to come up.
These villagers, the letter
says, are engaged in agriculture which would be threatened by the nuclear plant.
The letter says that the
leadership of these villages
had never given its consent to
the plant. The village heads of
Jaspara, Mithi Virdi, Mandva
and Khadarpar had on March
9, 2013, passed a resolution
declaring the entire Mithi
Virdi-Jaspara region as nuclear free zone. Yet, a state
government official, who is a
taluka development officer,
unconstitutionally ordered the
elected village head of Jaspara
to grant approval for the state
government transfer of land

to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited

(NPCIL) tasked with setting
up the nuclear plant, the letter says.
The letter says EIA report
also lacks clarity on a number
of issues like the absence of
base-line radioactivity data
for milk samples and impact
of two hills near the site on atmospheric dispersion etc. It
is because of this reason that
the Ministry of Environment
and Forests (MoEF), the letter
says, has asked NPCIL to revise and re-submit its EIA report.
This casual approach to
clearing a nuclear power plant
can lead to a major nuclear
disaster, says the letter. Signatories to the letter are Jaspara sarpanch Shaktisinh H
Gohil, Mithi Virdi sarpanch
Samuben Hirabhai Dabhi,
Mandva sarpanch Vilasba
Dharmendrasinh Gohil and
Khadarpar sarpanch Prutvirajsinh M Gohil.

Activist seeks NCM intervention, says

circular attack on freedom of religion

JAVED RAJA

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

AHMEDABAD I JANUARY 24

VADODARA-BASED activist
Zuber Gopalani has sought
the intervention of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) in the issue of the
Ahmedabad Municipal corporation (AMC) school board
circular asking its schools to
organise Saraswati pooja and
vandana on Vasant Panchami
that took place on Saturday.
Gopalani heads the state unit
of the Minority Development
and Protection Foundation.
The letter was emailed to
NCM on Saturday.
Gopalani said that pooja
and vandana to a diety
Goddess Sarswati in the
present incident derived from
polytheistic culture and belief,
was in direct contradiction to
the basic tenets of Islam based
on monotheism - worship of
one god. He demanded that
Muslim students in Urdumedium, Gujarati-medium
and other schools be exempted from Saraswati vandana and other religious practices based on polytheism.
The circular is a clear violation of Article 25 of the Indian constitution. Why should
we incorporate religious prac-

Congress leaders in Ahmedabad on Saturday protest

against a circular asking schools to do saraswati vandana.

SARASWATI
PRAYER CONTROVERSY
tices in educational and governmental institutions? Why
should a Muslim child worship a Hindu or some other diety, directly clashing with
his/her religious beliefs? The

students go to schools to learn

modern and secular subjects,
not religious ideologies,
Gopalani said in his letter.
Stating that the circular is
a direct attack on freedom of
religion, he hoped the NCM
would initiate some steps to
avoid further attacks on religious freedom in schools.

Israel keen to deepen ties with India: Consul General

VADODARA: Companies from Israel are eager to invest in India and looking to make Narendra Modis
Make in India campaign successful through increased co-operation, said Consul General David Akov
here. Akov and an Israeli team, including Ricky Shay from Ashkelon city were in Vadodara to sign a twin city
pact with the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC). Talking to PTI, Akov said Since Modi came to power
in May last year, ties between Israel and India have been on an overdrive, with the two signing defence and
technology deals that have underscored their burgeoning commercial and political relationship. adding
PTI
that it shows that both Israel and India have some common interest for mutual cooperation.